Big Ocean in partnership with the IUCN WCPA Large-Scale MPA Task Force is pleased to announce the launch of Large-Scale Marine Protected Areas: Guidelines for design and management, Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series, No. 26, at the 4th International Marine Protected Areas Congress. To download, click here! The publication was initially conceived of as […]

As Chile and IMPAC4 extend a warm welcome to Marine Protected Areas (MPA) friends and practitioners from across the world, Big Ocean is working to highlight the importance of Large-Scale MPAS (LSMPAs) specifically. We have developed a 1-page informational flyer that features a selection of sessions lead by our partners. We hope to increase our collective understanding of, and successful engagement in, […]

9th Big Ocean Business Meeting 3 September 2017 • Coquimbo, Chile Hosted by the Universidad Católica del Norte at the Salón Shizuo Akaboshi, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar Held in conjunction with the 4th International Marine Protected Area Congress, Big Ocean members will convene to reassess the network’s highest priority objectives and activities; make decisions about network operations; celebrate publication of […]

Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan will today announce plans to double the area of ocean under marine protection around the UK Overseas Territories to around four million square kilometres – greater than the landmass of India. This will involve the permanent closure of an additional one million square kilometres of ocean to commercial fishing, to […]

8th Business Meeting September 6, 2016 Honolulu, Hawaiʻi Held in conjunction with the 2016 World Conservation Congress Big Ocean members convened for an interim meeting in order to further the network’s highest priority objectives and activities and set the foundation for fundraising and participation at 4th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC4), to be held in La […]

On Friday, August 26, 2016, President Obama signed a proclamation expanding the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Previously the largest contiguous fully-protected conservation area in the United States at 139,797 square miles (362,073 km2), the expanded boundaries make it once again the biggest protected area on the planet at 582,578 square miles (1,508,870 km2), nearly the […]

The recent Think Tank on Human Dimensions of Large Scale Marine Protected Areas (LSMPAs) held in Hawai’i, saw 125 participants from 17 countries, including leadership from 10 LSMPAs and representation from 16 academic institutions come to the table to support enhancement of management and social science research for the largest MPAs on earth. Outcomes are […]

In recent years, the trend in the Pacific has been for tiny nations to make very big conservation commitments. Palau has just followed suit by designating 80 percent of the nation’s maritime territory as ʻfully protectedʻ through the Palau National Marine Sanctuary Act. “Today is a historic day for Palau, proving that a small island nation can have a big […]

Membership within Big Ocean more than doubled between the 5th and 6th business meetings. Not only did this underscore the relevance of the network for members, as managers and partners came together on 11 November just prior to the start of the 2014 World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia, the tone of the day became was one of camaraderie and […]

TE TAI NUI A HAU––the proposed large scale MPA of the Marquesas was a guest site at Big Ocean’s 6th Business Meeting held in Sydney in conjunction with the 2014 World Parks Congress. The video (3:45min) showcases the amazing qualities of the proposed large-scale site and the importance of culture and intergenerational connection of community […]